Nokia Growth Partners, the venture-capital unit of Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V), is seeking to invest in California startup firm Pelican Imaging to attract customers from rival Android devices, reports Bloomberg. Nokia will work to design cameras with more and better options and make it easier to join images in array photography.
Through this investment Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V) is trying to increase demand for its Lumia flagship, which is based on Windows software, and could not capture any substantial market share.
In the first quarter of 2013, Lumia garnered sales of 5.6 million, an increase from 4.4 million from the previous quarter. But the numbers that Lumia has attained are still way behind the iOs and Android powered phones. Cameras are one of the most sought after features and are emerging as a major reason for the buy or return of the phone. Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V) is known for its good cameras and thus can be a leveraging point in the growth of the market share of the company.
Last year, Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V) released the 41 megapixel 808 PureView technology along with Lumia 920. Nokia Growth partners acquired Lund, and Sweden-based imaging software maker Scalado last July. The company also invested in the image-sensing technology company based in California and micro-optics maker Heptagon, headquartered in Singapore to enhance its potential.
The total fund at Nokia Growth partners is $600 million, and the company made two investments from its $250 million funds. Bo Ilsoe, a partner at Nokia Growth Partners, said that usual investments of Nokia are in the range of $4 million to $7 million and are limited to $15 million. The company is looking forward to investing in six other companies this year.
“Over the next three to five years, mobile enterprise and advertising will be areas we’ll continue to invest around,” he said. “We’ll build a portfolio and a better in-depth understanding of ecosystems by having this approach.”
According to Ilsoe, array cameras, which use various optics and join the data into one image, are on the verge of being commercialized. Pelican, according to him, makes software for this technology. He said that this is a tough process, and Pelican has achieved expertise in this field. IIsoe further said that Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V) has been eyeing Pelican as soon as it was established in 2008. The private equity investors of Pelican, as per its website, are Globespan Capital Partners, Granite Ventures, InterWest Partners and IQT.
